10/2/2026 Siv Schwink for Illinois Physics
Leading physicists from around the globe will present their science in relation to Leggett's far-reaching body of research.
Written by Siv Schwink for Illinois Physics
From October 9 through 11, The Anthony J. Leggett Institute for Condensed Matter Theory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will bring together physicists from institutions across the United States and around the world for a conference and memorial honoring the late Nobel laureate and longtime Illinois Physics Professor Anthony J. “Tony” Leggett.
“The Life and Science of Anthony J. Leggett” will explore several areas of physics shaped by Leggett’s research, including superfluid helium‑3, high-temperature superconductivity, quantum coherence and dissipation, quantum computation, ultracold atoms, glasses, and unconventional superconductors. The three-day program will feature six scientific sessions, two panel discussions, and a memorial honoring Leggett.
Leggett came to Illinois Physics as a postdoctoral researcher from August 1964 to August 1965, joining David Pines’ group and working with Pines and colleagues including John Bardeen, Gordon Baym, and Leo Kadanoff. After joining the faculty at the University of Sussex in 1967, he returned to Illinois in 1983 as the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Chair of Physics. He retired from teaching in 2018 but continued to conduct research actively until his death in 2026. In 2023, Illinois renamed its Institute for Condensed Matter Theory after him, calling it the Anthony J. Leggett Institute for Condensed Matter Theory.
Leggett's work on superfluid helium-3 was recognized with the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics, which he shared with Alexei Abrikosov and Vitaly Ginzburg for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids. His research also addressed the relationship between quantum coherence and interactions with the environment, including foundational work with his former graduate student Amir Caldeira.
Caldeira, now at the University of Campinas in Brazil, is among the conference's featured speakers. He will open Saturday's session on quantum coherence, dissipation, and quantum realism, a subject closely connected to his work with Leggett. Matthew Fisher from the University of California Santa Barbara, a former Leggett student, will also speak on the work on macroscopic quantum coherence and tunneling.
Another featured speaker is Michel Devoret, who will participate remotely from the University of California Santa Barbara and Google. Devoret's experiments provided important experimental confirmation of predictions arising from the theoretical framework developed by Leggett and Caldeira. He will speak Saturday morning during the session on quantum coherence, dissipation, and quantum realism. Devoret shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Clarke and John Martinis for this work.
The conference will also feature Steven Girvin of Yale University and Chetan Nayak from Microsoft and the University of California Santa Barbara, who will participate in a panel discussion on the present and future of quantum computation. Markus Greiner of Harvard University and Ana María Rey of the University of Colorado will speak during Saturday's session on the BEC-BCS crossover and ultracold atoms. William Halperin from Northwestern and J. C. Séamus Davis of the University of Oxford will be among the speakers in Friday's opening session on superfluid helium-3.
The program also includes a session of high temperature superconductivity. Dirk van der Marel from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) will speak on Friday on his work with Leggett on this central problem. Also on Friday, there will be a panel discussion on the present and future of superconductivity featuring Andrey Chibukov from the University of Minnesota, Steven Kivelson from Stanford University, Long Ju from MIT and Nigel Hussey from the University of Bristol (United Kingdom).
The program will also feature a number of Illinois Physics faculty members, including Gordon Baym, Angela Kou, Vidya Madhavan, and Wolfgang Pfaff. The conference organizers are Rafael Fernandes, Eduardo Fradkin, Taylor Hughes, and Philip Phillips.
The memorial will take place at 4:30 p.m. Friday, October 9, at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center in Urbana. It will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. The scientific program will continue Saturday and Sunday, with talks and discussions spanning Leggett's major areas of research and their continuing influence on condensed matter physics and quantum science.
In addition to his scientific accomplishments, Leggett is remembered by his Illinois colleagues as a generous and engaged member of the university community. He maintained an active interest in discussing new problems and discoveries with students, postdoctoral researchers, and visitors and was known within the department.
“The Life and Science of Anthony J. Leggett” is sponsored by The Grainger College of Engineering and the Department of Physics at Illinois.